Parkdean Resorts Fallbarrow Holiday Park, Lake District — Attraction in Great Britain

Booked as a surprise weekend away for my family, for my Husbands 40th birthday. Lovely, modern at first glance, although I had to give it a vacuum as it looked as if it hadn't been. However when I took the vacuum cleaner out, I don't think it had EVER been emptied since it was placed in there, it was quite possibly the source of covid. The dustbin was rammed full, so much so that dog hair was hanging out it when I took it off. So straight away I was having to empty other people's hair, dirt and dust into a bin bag 🤢

We arrived around dinner time and after getting organised, went over to the restaurant for food and a drink to start our weekend. Staff in the restaurant weren't very aware, we ordered via the app (requires registration) from our table (which bugs me, as restaurants are supposed to be about service) and after 10-15 minutes it still didn't look like they had even seen our order. I had to prompt them for our drinks.

The horror started when we went back to our caravan and pulled the bed covers back to find dog hair and numerous bad stains all over them. I called the out of hours team, who brought us over new linen. However, when I stripped the linen off it got worse, the double duvet looked as if someone or possibly a dog had peed the bed! The pillows were an absolute disgrace with yellowing and stains. I wouldn't have even slept on them like that at home never mind knowing the stains were from other people. The night porter at my request brought us new pillows and was luckily able to find a new duvet. Some of the clean linen had stains on it too.

This all happened at 10.30pm, I never had envisioned having to strip and change beds at that time on our first night there, especially as clean bedding should be provided as part of the booking.

The night porter said he would pass on a message to reception as even he was shocked at the state of it. He said if there had been a spare unit on park, he would have moved us, but there wasn't.

A member of the reception team came over the next morning with a bottle of Prosecco and a balloon for my Husband, presumably following my advance message before we arrived, but also used it as an opportunity to apologise. I confirmed we were now OK as the bedding had been changed (by me).

The more I looked at the caravan the more I saw just how unclean and rundown it actually was, cobwebs up in corners, grease drips on the extractor fan, dirty marks on bathroom walls, under the cushions on the sofa was 🤮 they aren't massive caravans, it would take housekeeping 30 minutes to scoot around with the vacuum and a cloth to get them to a good standard.

We couldn't find a thermostat to control the heating and there was no information in the van about all those controls. This was not a big deal as we used the TRVs and opened the windows as required.

When checking out on the Monday, the receptionist asked if everything was OK. I explained everything but didn't get the impression she really cared, "sorry about that" "I'll pass that on" the usual that we are met with these days if something isn't up to standard.

I sent my feedback and photos via the webchat function. In short I was told that they want the opportunity to rectify while customers are on site, which the linen situation was. However, as I explained I wasn't about to ruin my Husbands birthday weekend, which was to be relaxing, by making a big deal of it to be told there weren't any other units to be moved to, or have to wait in the caravan while housekeeping came to clean.

I may sound old here but I remember a time where a company would take that situation seriously, and offer sincere apologies and some sort of compensation or vouchers for another stay. I didn't make the complaint only in the hope of getting something, I made it because the standard was not in line with what I expected and the reviews I had seen for Fallbarrow.

The email from them was signed off with... "We do hope we have the pleasure in welcoming back to Fallbarrow. Please do contact me directly and I would be delighted to care of...

We've just got back from our second visit. We went last year, absolutely loved it so booked to return this year.

Location: cannot fault it. It's perfect for us! Right on the lake so it's only a couple of minutes walk from caravan to lake side. It has a lovely area near to the lake with a small beach area and also a jetty. Great for taking the paddle board and kayak out, and also for swimming. It's only a few minutes walk into Bowness waterfront too. It was perfect! Teenage boy loved it.

The amenities: in all honest, we didn't use them this time. Last year we went to the bar, which was OK, but it's that close to the town centre we just went there every day.

The caravans: last year the caravan was amazing! We tried to reserve it again as the location on the park was perfect for us but it wasn't available, so we got the one next to it. The caravan was an Eskdale. It was smaller this time and didn't have an enclosed grass area (we take a dog so this was handy!), which was slightly disappointing, but it was still good. Three bedrooms, two toilets, bathroom with an excellent shower. TV was OK but we couldn't log on to any of the apps as the WiFi wasn't any good. WiFi is OK for the phone, but not for Netflix or anything like that.

The staff: staff were exceptional! They honestly couldn't do enough. We turned up at 1pm. We knew we couldn't check in until 4 but we just asked if we could park the car outside so we could walk into town. They checked and the van was already done so they let us check in straight away! When we got to the van, it was sweltering. It was hot outside anyway, but someone had also left the heating on. I went to reception and they gave us a huge van with helped immensely. Any time I went to the reception (e.g. for batteries) they were on hand, and swiftly dealt with anyone questions.

The bonus, on check out, we got a free pack of different sweets!

We went with a 15 year old boy and a dog, and it was excellent for them. I cannot recommend this...

Nice and convenient location so you don't have to drive out everyday if you didn't want to. Not much facilities for kids - it is really a convenient base to get to places. The part that our caravan was at had loads of caravans crammed together but the caravans had their own parking space. Our caravan was quite clean but there was some dirt on the window sill behind the sofa bed that we had to clean since we was sleeping on the sofa bed. The radiators, the shower caddy was rusty and there were some dirt marks on the light switches and wall but the dirt marks can't be cleaned so not the cleaners fault. Everyone was nice except for the ginger hair waitress with the tattoos who worked in the restaurant and helped with the amusements. My daughters like playing the 2p machines but prizes kept getting stuck at the side. The first night, both waiters was very nice but the second night, the waitress was appalling. She was triggered by two kids who said their £1 coin was stuck in the 2p machine and she took time debating whether to get the £1 out for the kids and whether it was theirs as there were £1 coins in other 2p machines. She eventually did and then my daughter had to chase her to ask her to get the prizes out as they were stuck at the side and she very rudely said if the prizes get stuck or drop into the side and it's gone then that's the rule of the game, I won't be able to get anymore prizes out! Saying this to a child is appalling! Why are the prizes being put near the side and not in the middle then? If it's stuck and you won't be getting it out, then this is a scam! We feed the 2p machines for a prize to come out and if it's stuck and you won't get it then what's the point playing? We felt she was taking it out on us because she didn't know whether the £1 belonged to the kids or not and this isnt right. We didn't pop in again to play based on...